Arizona Capitol Times Your Inside Source for Arizona Government, Politics and Business

Candidates for office in Arizona have never had an easier time getting on the ballot, but lawmakers are looking to raise the bar for citizen initiatives, referendums and recalls.

Latino voters and Democratic lawmakers remain opposed to two controversial bills to reform Arizona’s early voting system despite efforts to add bipartisan amendments to each measure.

Arizona’s rate of rejected ballots and high numbers of provisional and early voting and absentee ballots submitted has landed the state in the bottom third of all U.S. states for election performance in previous elections.

Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery will challenge a recommendation by an administrative law judge that his campaign finance case against Attorney General Tom Horne and his ally, Kathleen Winn, be dismissed.

Faith Mendoza is a 17-year-old honor student from Chandler who spent hundreds of hours through the 2012 election walking the streets, registering voters and then picking up early ballots from people who otherwise might not have voted.

By most accounts, she is a model citizen. But if SB1003 passes through the Legislature in its present form and is signed by the governor, continuing her volunteer work in Arizona would make her a felon.

A House bill that seeks to raise limits on campaign contributions could discourage candidates from using Arizona’s Clean Elections system, election officials warned.

Races for the Arizona Corporation Commission typically get less attention than the body’s utility-regulating powers perhaps warrant, but many in the elections business say the details of the outcomes can be highly valuable.

Lawmakers have been rushing to pass election reform measures this year, hoping to enact laws that would thwart the type of problems that marred the 2012 election.

The large number of provisional ballots cast in November has two lawmakers so far proposing ways to address the issue. Rep. Chad Campbell, D-Phoenix, the House minority leader, said he is drafting legislation to form a committee to study election problems and recommend legislation.

An immigration activist who's one of the leaders of the Dream Act movement is joining the staff of U.S. Rep. Kyrsten Sinema as a district outreach director.